Apparatus for delivering bottle-closures.



G. J. LAWSON.

. APPARATUS ron DBLIVERING BOTTLE cLosUEs.

l APPLIOATION FILED HAY 6, 1;"11. BENEWBD DEU. 10. 1918. #1,095,407.'

Patented May 5, 1914M 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

G. J. LAWSON.

APPARATUS Ton DBLWERING BOTTLE cLosUREs.

' APPLICATION FILED MAY 6, 1911. BENEWED DEU. 10, 1913.

Patented May 5, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Inventor: y umg.

Atty

UNITED sTa-TnsrafrENT ormoni.,

CLARENCE J. LAWSON, OF PLAINFIELD. NEl JERSEY. ASSIGNOIL BYV EIRECT ANDMESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO COLUMBIA MACHINE '& 'STOPPER CORPORATION, 'ACOIR-l PORATION 0F NEW YORK.

APPARATUS ron DELIVERING BoTTLE-oLosUREs.

- Specicationiof- Letters Patent.

applicati@ mea may e, 1911, serial No.s25,42`s. Rnewed^-neeember10,1913. serialNo. 305,857.

To all whom t may concern: Be 1t known that I, CLARENCE J. LAWSON,

a citizen of theUnited States, residing at llainiehh Union county, NewJersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Apparatus forDelivering Bottle-Closures, of which the following is a specification.

lvly invention relates to apparatus for taking bottle closures of thewell known crown type from a mass in a hopper and passing them to thesealing heads of a. hottle crowning machine in'p-roper' position to heapplied to the. necks of bottles and my objects are the simplificationof suclrmechanis-ms and the production of a non-clogging device capable,if necessary, of supplying a plurality of chutes. Y

In' the accompanying drawing Figure 1 is a sectional View of mydelivering apparat-us; Fig. 2 a view of the back of the apparatusshowing the mechanism for causing oscillation; Fig. 3 a detail View ofthe front. cover and valve plates with a properly positioned crownbetween them; Fig. 4 a like.`

view with a wrongly positioned crown between the plates; Fig. 5 a viewof the cover plate but-ton; and Fig. 6 a. view of a. multiple chuteoutlet.

The entire apparatus is usually located on the highest part of thecrowning machine so that the feed will be performed by vgravity.

A hopper 1 receives the. crowns in an indiscriminate mass and they slideby gravity' down the inclined bottom plate 2 toward the front of thehopper.

A grooved valve plate 3 is mounted at the front. or outlet. of thehopper and is provided with a large sectorial opening 4, preferablysemi-circular, and extending from the grooved rim t0 the hub as shown inFig. 1. This valve plate is secured to a shaft 5 extending through thehopper and is oscillated thereby. A dome-d cover plate 6 is also securedto the shaft and is spaced from the valve plate s0 that a crown may lieat between the outer face of the valve plate and the inner face ot thecover plate at the rims. This distance may be varied by adding orremoving washers 7 for the purpose of feeding crowns of differentdepths.

The domed cover plate forms an extension of the hopper so that the massof crowns will lie on both sides of the valve pla-te when the apparatusis in'opferation. A partial rota.- t-ion or oscillation of the valve andcover plates is effectedby the friction drive 8, 8', on the main shaft9. The driven member B 1s slidablylmounted ont-he shaft 10 so that thespeed, or number of oscillations per minute, can be varied vat will. Theouter end of the shaft. 10 carries al crank disk ll'which is connectedto a reciprocating rack 12 by a link 13. AThis rack 12 engages'a pinionon the sha-ft 5 so that the rotation vof the crank disk will cause theshaft 5 to oscillatc or partially. revolve through about 180 degreeswith a backward and lforward motin. This oscillation ofthe valve plate3' yand cover plate 6 causes the mass of crowns yin the hopper to bealternately in free communic-ation with Jthe space inside the domedcover-'plate and then shut off from it according to whether the openingor the solid part of the valve plate is at the bottom of the hopper. Asthe plates oscillate the crowns in front of the valve plate are tumbledand those feed out between the two plates when in proper position, beingreplaced by others from the main mass in the hopper when the valve plateis in open position. TheV tumbling operation is lfurthe-r assisted bythe edge of the opening 4. cutting through the ratemedmay 5, 1914.

mass of crowns in its path during oscillation.

The rim of the valve plate is provided with a lipped groove 15 at theinner periphery of the rim, ,with a channel 16, deepened as shown inFigsl 3 and 4 and with a squared inner edge 17.

No attempt is made to select. the crowns as all on edge in the domedplate will pass into the space between the two plates and novatteinptvis made to turnover wrongly positioned crowns. If the crownsare properly positioned, that is flange out, they will pass over the lip15 and into the reservoir space above the guide chute 18 as shown inFig. 3. If they are wrongly positioned the lower edge of the flange willcatch in the groovev between the twe rims, causes them to oscillate withthe plates but if any resistance is encountered the button is retractedand slides over the crowns. These plates are continuously oscillated andmisplaced crowns will fall out by gravity when they .voir space and inoperation the central chute will ll first and then the overow will bealternately fed into the two outer chut-csf The groove and channelheilig free from rigid pins and projections permits the crowns to rollfreely in the channel and thus reduces the wear and tear on decoratedcrowns.

The absence of pockets in the valve plate rim lessens the. liability ofcrowns being caught and wedged.

lt is obvious that my apparatus will not operate with a rotary motionfor all crowns carried above the shaft line will fall out of the channelin the valve plate.

I claim In a closure feeding device the combination of a hopper, aninclined bottom therein; a valve plate closing the front of the hopperand provided with an opening extending to the 'rim thereof wherebycommunication with the mass of crowns in the hopper is alternatelyopened and closed; a domed cover plate in front of the valve plate andspaced therefrom; an annular groove in the rim of the valve plate facingthe cover plate int-o :which closures may pass; a grooved lip on theextreme outer periphery of the rim adapted to intercept wronglypositioned closures and means for imparting an oscillatory motion to thetwo plates. n

In testimony whereof l have hereunto subscribed my name in the presenceof two wit messes.

CLARENCE J. LAWSON. Witnesses:

Roer. B. Kmeonn,

A. J. MANFRED.

